A huge batch of poisonous peanuts which could make the public violently ill have been snatched in a bizarre warehouse raid.

A huge batch of poisonous peanuts which could make the public violently ill have been snatched in a bizarre warehouse raid.

Police have warned people in the North East to be on guard for the nuts, which should have been destined for bird food, after three tonnes were stolen from a haulage firm's warehouse in Hexham, Northumberland.

Amazed staff arrived at the haulage firm on Sunday to find the nuts were gone.

Raiders hotwired a forklift truck to nab their haul, valued at around #2,000, and ferry it away, as well as hundreds of toilet rolls worth #1,000.

Police fear the nuts, which were from Java, may end up on the stalls of some unscrupulous market traders.